For most of ASCO's history, the diagnostics that guide cancer treatment were a supporting cast to the drugs. At ASCO 2026, the radar shows that hierarchy collapsing. The data layer — circulating tumor DNA, minimal residual disease, real-world evidence, and AI — now commands study volume on par with the biggest drug classes, and the companies driving it are diagnostics players, not pharma.
The data layer is now a headline act
We counted ASCO 2026 studies by the themes named in their titles. The result reframes what the meeting is about.
Consider the scale. ctDNA appears in 112 study titles — more than most individual drugs. Add the related phrasings (circulating tumor DNA/cells, 81; liquid biopsy, 40; MRD, 37) and the liquid-biopsy theme rivals an entire therapeutic modality. Layer on real-world evidence (780 titles) — the single most common methodological frame in the meeting — and AI/machine learning (160 titles), and a clear truth emerges: a large and growing share of oncology research is now about measuring and deciding, not only treating.
What ctDNA and MRD are actually doing
The clinical use cases have matured well past "interesting biomarker." Circulating tumor DNA is now being used to:
- Guide adjuvant therapy decisions — escalate treatment for patients with detectable MRD after surgery, and spare those who are MRD-negative from unnecessary chemotherapy. This is the most consequential use, and it is most advanced in colorectal and breast cancer.
- Monitor for recurrence earlier than imaging, turning surveillance into a molecular rather than radiographic exercise.
- Serve as an early efficacy readout in trials — ctDNA clearance as a surrogate that can accelerate development timelines.
The competitors are diagnostics companies
Here is the commercial twist. Among the studies with a disclosed sponsor at ASCO 2026, two of the most frequent names are Natera and Exact Sciences — diagnostics companies, sitting alongside AstraZeneca, Amgen, and Merck. GRAIL appears too. The diagnostics industry is no longer supplying tools to pharma trials from the sidelines; it is running its own evidence-generation programs at the field's biggest stage.
| Theme | ASCO 2026 signal | Who is competing |
|---|---|---|
| ctDNA / MRD | 112 ctDNA + 37 MRD titles; guiding adjuvant decisions and surveillance | Natera (Signatera), Guardant, Exact Sciences, NeoGenomics |
| Multi-cancer early detection | GRAIL and peers among disclosed sponsors | GRAIL (Galleri), Exact Sciences, Freenome |
| AI / machine learning | 69 AI + 91 ML titles — pathology, imaging, trial matching | Tempus, Foundation, academic & startup tools |
| Real-world evidence | 780 titles — the single most common methodological frame | Flatiron, ConcertAI, payers, pharma RWE teams |
| Companion biomarkers | HER2-low, HRD, TMB, PD-L1 stratifying nearly every trial | Foundation, Guardant, Tempus, Caris |
Why this matters commercially
For diagnostics companies: ASCO is now a primary battleground, and the MRD-guided-adjuvant use case is the prize — it sits upstream of enormous drug-treatment decisions. Winning the evidence race (which assay, which tumor, which decision point) is a multi-billion-dollar positioning question. For pharma: every biomarker-defined trial needs a companion diagnostic, and ctDNA-based endpoints can compress development timelines — the diagnostics partner is now strategic, not procurement. For investors: the diagnostics land grab is one of the clearest secular trends in the radar, and the disclosed-sponsor data is an early map of who is investing to win it.
This is also the purest expression of the Knitify thesis — from molecule to market, every answer points to a commercial outcome. The data layer is where oncology's science and its economics now meet.
Explore the underlying data
Every number above is live and pivotable on the Knitify ASCO Radar — analyze the 7,222 studies in the ASCO 2026 program by drug, indication, sponsor, or trial-in-progress status, and compare year over year against 2025 and 2024. Filter the board to a diagnostics theme such as ctDNA to reproduce every count in this article. The radar links to each study on the official ASCO program; it does not reproduce copyrighted text.
Methodology & scope: figures in this article are structured signals the Knitify ASCO Radar derives from the publicly released ASCO 2026 scientific program (7,222 studies presented; 6,511 in 2025; 5,885 in 2024) — counting how many studies reference a given drug, indication, or modality class. They quantify research attention and momentum, not clinical efficacy or market share. Named trial results are quoted from public company press releases, the ASCO press program, and peer-reviewed journals (cited below). The radar does not reproduce any copyrighted text — it links to each study on the official ASCO program. This is editorial commentary on public data — not investment, legal, regulatory, or medical advice.